DURING my earlier years as a school teacher and while we were grading students' exam papers at an educational assessment centre, a computer specialist committed a technical error in which tens of thousands of students' already printed certificates would have to be destroyed instantly to get new ones reprinted. Soon after the error was identified, we were all summoned for an urgent meeting with the center's director. He urged us to keep the incident secret, knowing well that it was nearly impossible to do so when hundreds of people were working there. Instead of holding the man accountable for the damage he had done, the officials' ultimate ambition was to stop any leaks to the local press and to keep what happened away from public attention. Unfortunately for the center officials, almost all local newspapers ran the story on their front page the very next day, leaving the officials in complete shock and disbelief. The director's effort to stop the leak reflects a sad phenomenon that many influential officials, wittingly or unwittingly, despise the idea of making the public aware of what their organizations do. Secrecy doctrine, if we have to name it, is the de facto mechanism by which many top officials strenuously adhere. The conventional wisdom says that corruption thrives in secret places, whereas transparency and accountability flourishes in the presence of a fully free press that brings wrongdoers to the public attention. It is a fact that Saudi newspapers enjoy a relatively good deal of freedom in carrying out their daily press coverage. In the last few years, freedom of expression has greatly improved and newspapers are covering many sensitive issues which were not touched upon earlier. Stories of corruption, wastage of resources and numerous other illegal practices receive daily coverage either in terms of reporting in local pages or analysis in opinion sections. Throughout the past two weeks, several key newspapers have been at the heart of a heated social debate that is still blazing ever since. Key religious figures complain that newspapers are not telling the truth regarding certain issues and that such fabrication is deliberately intended by journalists and reporters with “liberal intentions” who dominate the opinion pages in our local press. One of those outspoken critics of the newspaper voiced his concerns regarding the “audacity of some newspapers in their reporting” suggesting that newspapers should be put under stiff restrictions. However, and to an extent that might infuriate many fellow reporters in our daily newspapers, the credibility of many incidents that these newspapers run is on the line. The lack of well-trained investigative reporters who can document their reporting with an incredible honesty and an unusual professionalism is posing a great challenge to printed media which are struggling to survive amid fierce competition from internet news websites that are mushrooming nowadays. Freedom of expression is part and parcel of any social and economic reform. The main function of free press is not just to entertain the public but rather to let them be informed and enlightened about the larger affairs in society. To do that job well, journalists are required to seek truth and bring it into the public domain. That truth should be the guiding force for journalists while reporting and explaining or interpreting and criticizing. The existence of free media with utter commitment to truth is not just a privilege but rather a necessity that has to be jeoulously preserved but strenuously guarded. – SG The author can be reached at [email protected] __
